Flint Newman, with his Grand Champion Steer named G.O. on Saturday at Reliant Arena, said he tried not to get attached to the animal, which will eventually go to slaughter. "If you sell it for $400,000, you've got a lot of reasons not to."

Flint Newman, with his Grand Champion Steer named G.O. on Saturday at Reliant Arena, said he tried not to get attached to the animal, which will eventually go to slaughter. "If you sell it for $400,000, you've

Would-be buyers sipped sodas and beers, and tapped their rulers on the floor as the auctioneer's voice boomed from corner to corner of the room.

In the front row, Ed Lester and his group of buyers were vying for the 1,335-pound Charolais, led around the pavilion's main stage by its exhibitor, 18-year-old Stanton resident Flint Newman. His 23-year-old sister, Dakota, who exhibited the grand champion in 2005, and his 9-year-old cousin, Tristan Himes, were on stage with him.

The bids had already surpassed last year's high of $360,000, but rodeo auctioneers were trying to eke a little more out of the hundreds of potential buyers at the auction.

Farther back in the room, for example, the 18 women of the Champagne Cowgirls were trying to capture the prize steer for themselves.

Bid markers popped into the air, each new one winning a burst of applause.

Bids inched up to $375,000, to $385,000, and then finally, $400,000, $40,000 more than last year's top bid, and a buying group composed of Vanessa, Chris, Kyle and Rhianna Bruegger; Evelyn and Roger Bethune; Sally and Rigo Flores; Mary Alice and Ed Lester with Stewart Title walked away with the most expensive beef in Houston this year.

As with the other steers auctioned Saturday, some of the money will go to the student exhibitor, and the rest will go to the rodeo's educational scholarship and grants programs.

Joel Cowley, the rodeo's president and CEO, said they would distribute about $23 million in scholarships, prizes and grants.

Buyers said supporting the work of the exhibitors and their education was the principal reason they paid sky-high prices for steers that would otherwise fetch about $1,500.

The animals were the elite of the more than 1,600 shown at the rodeo this week.

About 400 were being auctioned off Saturday, according to event officials.

"This buyer's group has for the last 11 years purchased the first or second (place) steer almost every year," said Ed Lester, a members of the winning buyer's group. "It's part of our tradition to continue to help the youth of Texas by supporting this (event)."

Newman has spent the last year raising G.O. It wasn't always easy, he said. G.O acted up early in training, during one of the first times Newman tried to "set him up."

"He reared up and landed in a wheelbarrow," he said, laughing.

Now, a year later, it was time to say goodbye. The steers will soon be slaughtered, and their hides and meat distributed to the winning bidders.

"You do kinda get attached, but I try not to," Newman said. "If you sell it for $400,000, you've got a lot of reasons not to."

It was his ninth rodeo showing steers - and his last before graduating from high school in West Texas in a few months. He has made it to the final round in Reliant Stadium three times, he said.

Moments after Lester and his group bought G.O., the Champagne Cowgirls - along with Carol and Michael Linn, Dee Dee and Wallis Marsh, and the Tutcher family - got a steer of their own when they snagged the rodeo's grand reserve champion, Darth Vader, exhibited by 17-year-old Kaden Hatla, of Dimmitt, for $210,000. That was the same price of last year's grand reserve champion. They were repeat buyers, Hatla said. The Cowgirls had bought his steer the year before.

Darth Vader was one of five steers the Champagne Cowgirls bought Saturday, said Ellie Francisco, head of the group of 18 women (and their husbands).

"We all really believe in supporting education and supporting scholarships for the youth of the state of Texas," she said.

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